Day-Dreams in Childhood - Adolescence - Old Age - Physical Defectives - The Expectant Mother - Day-Dreams and Ethics - Effect on Daily Life - Effect on Health.

There is a story told of parents bringing their three-year-old child to a Greek philosopher to be educated. When told the child's age he declined, saying that the child's education had already been completed. There is much truth in this view; we know today that a child, even in infancy, receives many impressions for good and for ill which persist into adult life. One who studies children will note that even infants are observant; and in early childhood the observing faculty is further developed. Moreover, the child is imitative. Coming mostly in contact with the parents, it is the latter that the child tends to copy. Mannerisms of walking, talking, certain physical ills, nervousness, anger and many other peculiarities often ascribed to heredity are in many cases due solely to imitation on the part of the child. Again, the child is inclined to develop the ideas of the parents; in fact, children thrown into very intimate contact with the parents, as mother and daughter, not only often think alike but use the same words in expressing their ideas. We cannot be too careful, therefore, of our personal conduct in the presence of our children; nothing is too insignificant for their notice. And we should be mindful, too, that we owe it to the

* children to be honest with them even though we choose to deceive ourselves. If the good things of life have been denied us, instead of belittling them and thus giving the child a false view of these things, we should refrain from showing envy, or deriding those who possess what has been refused us. If we manifest envy or hate the child will be apt to betray the same traits. And it is out of faulty views of life implanted in childhood that many socialists, anarchists, and other creatures out of harmony with the world are made. As every one knows, childhood is the age of fantasy-ing. The child is endowed with a varied and a vivid imagination. We can observe even a young child speaking to its limbs, its toys, surrounding objects as if they were rational beings. Practically everything the child experiences by way of the senses is magnified, and things not well understood are coloured highly. In most cases the imagination of childhood produces no lasting harm, though older children, especially if their imaginations are fired by injudicious stories, etc., may become the prey of terrors, manifested as night terrors or day terrors.

Here we desire to call attention to two points specially worthy of parents' concern. One of these is the necessity of paying particular attention to the so-called quiet or sensitive child. Usually these children have a hypertrophied imagination, and prefer to spend their time alone, playing or "thinking." In not a few instances, the peculiarity is noticeable in infancy. The baby, on hearing a noise, or seeing a new face exhibits great fear and may even have convulsions. Later, shyness, excessive timidity, solitariness develop. The child dislikes to mingle with other boys and girls, and may prefer the society of adults. He is often teased and bullied by other children, which occasions outbreaks of passion. Given to brooding, he is apt to dwell upon his imaginary wrongs, or to let his thoughts concern themselves with morbid topics, as ghost and murder stories. Self-consciousness is fostered, and with it a tendency to neurotic disorders.

Quietness in a child, love of solitude, an aversion for play are best regarded as abnormal. If efforts are not made to remove these tendencies harm will surely result. It is not good for a child to be alone much, occupied solely in thinking, and observing quietly all that goes on in its narrow environment. Not only is the imagination likely to become over-developed in improper ways, but the child fails to profit by trial and error, to come in contact with reality, and so misses the education which can be received only by association with others. Sensitive, shy, retiring, lacking courage, the child builds up an artificial world, peopled by unreal people, and fantasying becomes a habit.

In place of fostering the child's love of solitude, the parents should strive to cultivate the opposite. At times the child may be suffering from unsuspected physical impairments, as defective vision, that render it unable to take part in the games of others; conscious of its inferiority, the child prefers to be alone. In such cases attention to physical defects may be all that is necessary to change the child's disposition. Most quiet children, however, need parental encouragement. The child should be impressed with the value of joining in the play of children of the same age; and in place of allowing the child to spend the time in-doors by itself, the parents should try to entertain it by happy stories, by suitable games; visits to places of interest are also useful. It is best that the child have companions of its own age, preferably lively, boys and girls. In many eased removing the child from a private to a public school, or sending it to a not-too-exclusive boarding school works wonders. These children are too protected; what they need most is association, forced if necessary, with " regular fellows."

The above admonitions will apply to the usual quiet child. There is a special type, however, which requires even more patient supervision. This is the child that, in addition to being imaginative and solitary, is given to periods of sadness, depression, despondency; that laughs little or none; that is inclined to see the gloomy side of life, though not in the same manner as the cynical, adult pessimist. Sometimes the depression of these children is congenital; at other times it is engrafted on a neurotic temperament. Often the tendency to sadness is increased by the parent, especially the mother, making a confidant of the child, telling it her troubles, and consoling herself by the sympathy the child is ever ready to give. However the child's sadness may be caused, the child certainly needs plenty of sunshine, figuratively and literally. To simply refer to it as "soulful," "affective," "motherly," etc., and not to strive to cultivate in it a happy outlook on life may lead to melancholia; indeed, it is not unknown for these children to commit suicide, often for very trivial reasons. Few of these children, like quiet children in general, outgrow their peculiarities. De Quincey's chapters1 on The Affliction of Childhood And Dream Echoes Fifty Years Later, illustrate how childhood peculiarities may follow throughout the years, bringing sadness in their train. Poe, Cowper, Samuel Johnson, Beethoven, Chat-terton, Baudelaire, Pater, Byron, are other examples of affective children. While the problems offered by the sad, quiet child are best solved by a skilled pedagogue, the mother can aid very much by doing all she can to instil optimism into the child, as by happy talks, the reading of joyful literature, encouraging the child to play with children it likes and who are of a happy disposition. By no means should the child be scolded, or subjected to ridicule.